The match was witnessed by nearly 40,000 diehard Chinese football fans inside the Zhuque Stadium in Xi'an city. The first half remained goalless, but China completely dominated the position and looked in real danger of breaking the deadlock.

However, the entire complexion of the game changed after Syria surprisingly broke the deadlock after just nine minutes into second half. The Syrian midfielder Mahmoud Al-Mawas made no mistake in latching onto the Ahmad Al Salih's pass, as he rolled the ball into the net after beating the Chinese goalkeeper.

The goal left the jam-packed Zhuque Stadium into complete silence, while the shocked and nervous Chinese fans waited for an equalizer almost breathless. However, they were left disappointed as the scoreboard remained unchanged after full-time.

This is China's first World Cup qualifying defeat on home soil since 2011. The unexpected result, though, brought smiles on thousands of soccer fans across Syria, which has been ravaged by over five years of continuous civil war.

Meanwhile, Chinese fans and their national media felt down following their team's loss.

The Tencent Sports website claimed that a large group of frustrated Chinese supporters assembled outside the stadium to demand the resignation of Chinese Football Association president Cai Zhenhua, while reports about others asking for the resignation of Coach Gao Hongbo appeared on Chinese media.